In many EU countries, the shadow economy is large enough to cover the annual budget deficit
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN once declared: “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Scrub the taxes. Otherwise legal purchases of goods and services, which are deliberately concealed from public authorities, and on which taxes are not paid, make up perhaps one-third of the global economy. The largest under-the-table economies are in sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia. But nowhere is immune. Because of their opaque nature, it is hard to put an exact figure on shadow economies.
In much of Europe, a shift away from cash is already under way. In 2015 the European Commission capped fees on debit and credit card transactions, boosting their appeal among retailers. Mobile payment apps, such as iDEAL in the Netherlands or Swish in Sweden, further encourage people to forgo coins and notes. In Sweden the number of retail cash transactions per person has fallen by 80% in the past ten years. In Norway cash makes up only 6% of purchases by value.
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